WINDOWS 10 RECOVERY MEDIA

In the olden days, Windows used to come with a recovery CD or partition. Nowadays you can’t take that for granted, so it’s a good idea to create your own recovery media and keep it somewhere safe for use when disaster strikes. The process is easy, and the tool you need is built right into Windows 10.

1 Launch the Recovery Media Creator

Open the Start menu and search for “Create a recovery drive”; this will launch the Recovery Media Creator. Accept the option to back up your system files to the recovery drive if you want to restore your existing Windows installation directly after booting from it.

2 Create your recovery media

Windows scans your system, and when it’s compiled a list of required files it will ask for a USB flash drive or external hard disk. Note that any existing files on the drive will be wiped, and the process of creating the archive can take several hours, depending on the size of your files and the speed of your drive.

3 Boot into recovery mode

When you need to use your recovery media, boot from the flash drive to see various options for reinstalling or recovering Windows. Naturally, you’ll only be able to recover to the state your PC was in when you created the recovery media, so it’s a good idea to periodically rebuild it to keep it up to date.